


Episode 2: The Return

by CreativeSkull



Series: Happy Times at Handeemen HQ [2]
Category: Hello Puppets (Video Game)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-03
Updated: 2020-08-21
Packaged: 2021-03-05 23:22:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,514
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25693492
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CreativeSkull/pseuds/CreativeSkull
Summary: Stacy returns to the Handeemen HQ, where she meets some new friends.
Series: Happy Times at Handeemen HQ [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1686223
Comments: 15
Kudos: 22





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Second episode of this series right here! :D 
> 
> Chapter 11 ofOutside will be up in two weeks, on Monday.

True to what Mortimer had promised, Stacy did not have to interact with any of the Puppets when she went back to the studio. Instead she swept the floors, or helped in the cafeteria. The few times she did interact with the cast, it was the humans she talked to and did things for.

Not that she never saw the Puppets, of course. They were always there, and sometimes she couldn't help but watch as they recorded their show. Not often, of course, as Lydia almost always had her doing something else somewhere else. But sometimes, she thought could feel them watching her, too, and it creeped her out a little bit.

But, Stacy ignored it, and pretended that Puppets were just that, puppets. That there were human actors controlling them, and they weren't haunted or possessed or whatever was going on with them. It helped a little, but she still couldn't get rid of the nagging fear that lurked in the back of her mind at all times. So she simply avoided them.

On the Puppets end, they did their part to stay away from the girl. None of them were particularly happy about it, Riley especially. But they still loyally followed what Mortimer told them to do. Just as they had always done.

All but one, of course.

Scout, personally, didn't see what the big deal was about Stacy. The human was cool, in her opinion, and she didn't understand why she had to stay away from her in particular. And so, a week after their first meeting, the small Hand Puppet made her move.

Stacy was currently in one of the closets, grabbing some props off the shelves to put in boxes for one of the others to take to the sets. It was an easy task, to just grab what was on the list and drop it in the proper box. She actually enjoyed it until she grabbed a fake book off the shelf, to be met face to face with a Hand Puppet.

"Stacy!" She shouted, causing the girl to give a yell, stumbling back. The Puppet launched herself towards her, and she dropped the book in her scramble to catch her.

"Uh, Scout?" Stacy blinked, shifting the smaller being to her left arm so she could pick the prop back up and put it in the box. "Uh..."

"What are doing right now?" Scout asked, voice serious. 

"Uh... working?" Stacy did not know where this was going, and wondered if it would be rude to just drop the Puppet back on the shelf. She didn't get a chance to, though, when she spoke up again.

"Nope! You're coming with me. See that up there?" Scout pointed, and Stacy looked up to see a large open vent, just a large square of darkness set into the ceiling.

"Um..!" She wasn't sure what to say as the Puppet jumped from her arms and started climbing the shelving unit. "Scout, wait!" With a quick glance to the door, she scrambled up after the Puppet, groaning when she disappeared into the vent. With a bit of work, she managed to pull herself up into the vent, which was as dark as she'd feared.

"Scout!" She whispered, and got a face full of light when the Puppet popped up in front of her. She muffled a cry as she fell back, rubbing at her eyes.

"What?" The Puppet asked, impatient. Her hands were on her "hips", and if she had them, Stacy was sure she'd be tapping a foot. Her eyes were lit up like a flashlight, much to the girl's surprise, though it made sense in hindsight. The toys in the lobby were also flashlights, and Scout did seem to be based on them.

"We shouldn't be up here! We could get in trouble!" Stacy whispered. She went to grab her, but was surprised when Scout instead scrambled up her arm to flop over her shoulder, weird flashlight eyes pointed forward.

"It's fine. I come up here all the time. Nobody's gonna know." She brushed off the concern. "Now, come on! I wanna show you something!"

Stacy hesitated for only a moment, then followed Scout's direction. She clunked uneasily through the large vent, flinching away and hurrying or outright stopping whenever it creaked. Every time Scout shouted out encouragements of how it wouldn't break, things were fine and could you just move already?! 

And every time Stacy frantically shushed her, worried that someone would hear. But even then Stacy found herself having some fun with it. She even started to lighten up a little on the shushing as they traveled, though she made sure to be quiet herself.

All in all, the trip was going quite well, until they wandered over a grate. As Stacy crawled, a voice rose up in a shriek that made her jump, hitting her head against the top of the shaft.

"You incompetent fools! Tell me now, where are my tools?!" Stacy jerked away from the grate, scrambling back and covering her mouth to muffle a terrified squeak. The noise it made seemed to be unnoticed by those below.

"Look, doc, we're just waiting on the kid to get back-" Someone, maybe Bill, tried to say, but was interrupted by the sound of rubber on wood.

"Do not make excuses for your incompetence!" The Puppet snarled out as Stacy quickly crossed over the grate. "And do not blame others because your work is less than decent!"

They quickly went away from the budding argument, Stacy struggling to crawl with one hand as the other was clamped firmly over her mouth. She didn't move it until they could no longer hear the shouting. Scout watched her silently, thinking back to what she'd been overhearing.

"You know," The Puppet started. "you don't have to be scared of-"

"I'm not scared!" Stacy snapped quietly, fear morphing to anger in an instant. She felt a little bad when Scout recoiled, but not enough to apologize.

"Okay! Geez! Don't bite my head off..." She mumbled, but the girl ignored her so she didn't say anything else. Instead she just pointed out which way to got whenever the reached an intersection, and the two kept silent otherwise.

It went on like that for a while, and just when Stacy was starting to get annoyed, Scout hopped off and scrambled towards a grate. "Right here!" She yelled. She undid a screw, and the grate swung down. Scout jumped down before Stacy could grab her, leaving her no choice but to follow.

As she looked down through the hole, she saw that the room below looked like a colorful playroom. Pillows were everywhere, there was a TV, and various toys all over the floor. A very short table sat in the middle of the room, in front of the TV, with a few plastic dishes on it. 

Stacy dropped through, hanging briefly from her right hand so she could plan her landing better. Even then she still tipped back an fell down into a crumpled sitting position. She rubbed at her back with a groan. "Ugh, Scout..."

"Who the heck are you?!" Looking up, Stacy saw in front of her another Hand Puppet, the exact same size as Scout. This one had a longer nose, pale-flesh-colored "skin" and blue hair pulled into pigtails. She was also glaring at the girl, which was a little disconcerting.

"Uh.." Was her only reply. Luckily, Scout spoke up, saving her from having to think of an actual answer.

"That's Stacy! I told you about her, remember Canon?" The purple haired Puppet spoke up from behind the other, holding a small stuffed bear.

"Canon" looked between the human and Puppet, then glared harder. "And you brought her here?!"

"Yeah?" She gave such a flippant answer, Stacy almost laughed in response. She didn't, though, as she noticed at least two other Hand Puppets watching them from a nearby bookshelf. One had orange hair and yellow skin, while the other had red hair and a similar, bluish skin to Scout.

It was the second one that leapt down, yelling. "Scout you idiot! You know humans aren't allowed in here! You're going to get us all in trouble! Again!"

"No I won't!" Scout insisted, but Red just yelled louder.

"Yes, you will!"

Stacy just tuned them out at that point, standing up and brushing offer her shorts. As she straightened up, she was smacked in the face by a fifth Puppet. This one had green hair and orange skin, and was, oddly enough, hanging from the ceiling fan.

"Hey." He grinned when she caught him instinctively. What ever he was hanging from was long enough it didn't impede the fan as it spun around, simply sliding along the blade as it went. Without even thinking about it she untied him, setting him on her shoulder where Scout had been to tug the remainder of his... parachute? off of the fan. As she searched for a place to put it, the yellow Puppet jumped to her other shoulder, and Stacy had to scramble to catch her.

"Hey." The green puppet patted her cheek. "Put it over there. That's where my stuff goes." He pointed to a box in the corner, and when Stacy crouched to put the parachute in he slipped off her shoulder and crawled inside, pulling it after him. 

Hey! Human!" Stacy turned, seeing that Red and Scout had stopped arguing, instead glaring at the floor while Canon "stood" between them. "You have to leave. Now."

"Aw, come on sis! She just got here!" The green one said, coming back out of the box. Stacy picked him up and brought him over to the other three. "Besides, she helped me down when you refused to."

"We left you up there because you're not supposed to jump from the top of the bookshelf!" Canon hissed. She then pointed to Stacy. "And you! Put them down! We're not toys you can just carry around!"

Stacy quickly crouched to put the two Puppets on the floor, even as Scout protested it. "Uh, Canon. We kinda are." Canon turned on Scout, an annoyed look on her face.

"Shut. Up." She ground out, making the purple haired Puppet shrink back.

"I see no reason why she can not stay." The yellow and orange Puppet spoke up from where Stacy had put her. "Her arrival certainly made this a very unique day."

"Yeah, what Stitch said!" The green Puppet insisted. "Come on Canon, let her stay!"

"Please." Scout piped up, somehow making puppy dog eyes. Canon did her best not to look, but eventually she sighed.

"Fine." She told them. "But if mom finds out, I am not helping any of you."

But, she was ignored as Scout hurried back over to Stacy and the green haired Puppet cheered. "Yes! I'm Bonzai. That's Stitch, and that over there is Bit." He pointed to the yellow and red Puppets respectively. "Welcome to the Playroom!"

"Uh, cool?" Stacy had no clue what to do with this. She was hopeful they really would kick her out, if only so she wouldn't get in trouble for shirking her duties. Then again, why look a gift horse in the mouth "My name's Stacy. It's a pleasure to meet you!" She smiled as sincerely as she could, and to her luck they all seemed to buy it. "So, what do you guys usually do in here?"

"Everything!" Scout exclaimed. "It's so boring! And we're not allowed to leave until all the humans are gone!"

"Yeah!" Bonzai agreed. "And even then, we can't go past the hallway. We might get "lost". Pfft, lame." He rolled his eyes, crossing his arms and looking very put out.

"Oh. Uh..." Should she offer to sneak them out? Or would she just get in big trouble. She liked Scout, but did she like her enough to risk trouble for her?

"Perhaps she could give us a story? We already know all the ones here, so they're quite boring." Stitch piped up, saving the girl from having to make an offer.

"Oh. Uh..." Stacy tried to think of a story, but she drew a blank. "Have you guys ever seen Star Wars?" It was the only thing she could think of, and only because she'd watched all the movies with Danny over the course of a week. He had loved it, of course, though he kept comparing her to Luke, much to her own annoyance.

"No." "Nope!" "Why would stars have a war?" Okay. Stacy could definitely work with this.

"Well, you see, on a farm far off in a desert on another planet..."

And it went on from there, with Stacy telling the small beings the story in a way she felt they would understand. While at first she was just speaking the words, eventually she got into it enough that she was acting out the battles. Making the blaster and saber noises, showing off the moves, even doing some of the voices. All while the Puppets watched with rapt attention, like they'd never seen anything more entertaining.

"-and so Luke comes out onto the catwalk, where he can see Kenobi and Vader battling it out! It's epic! It's awesome! Sabers are flashing, and the two are jumping around like crazy!" She held in her hands a cardboard tube, covered in colorful ribbons. she wasn't sure where she got it from, but it was helpful in showing off the light-saber battle.

"What happened next?!" Bonzai gasped. He especially was really into it, although she held all the Puppets' attention. Their eyes tracked the tube as she waved it around.

"Well, Luke watched them fighting for a moment, and for a second, it looks like Kenobi's gonna win! But then Vader takes his Saber and he-!" She flinched as the door suddenly banged open dropping the tube and leaping back. As one, the Puppets turned to look at who ever had entered their room.

It was Daisy, glaring with motherly fury at the tiny Hand Puppets. "Which one of you-" She couldn't even get the whole question out before the other four Hand Puppets pointed at Scout, who shrunk back from the larger Puppet. "Of course it was you."

She wheeled forward, collapsing her stand to scoop up the purple haired Puppet. "Aw, c'mon Mom. I wanna know what happened next!" She whined.

"No, Scout." She raised back up and fixed Stacy with a Mom Look. "And Sugar, if you could come out here with me. There's something I need to ask you." And then she left, heading into the next room with Scout.

"Oooooh, somebody's in trouble~" Bit cackled, until Canon smacked the back of her head, turning on her flashlight. "Ow!"

"Don't be mean, Bit!" She scolded quietly. Stacy ignored that, instead debating if she could run through and avoid Daisy altogether. But, then again, she didn't know where exactly they were, and she'd only get more lost if she tried that.

So, she took a deep breath, and left Scout's brother and sisters to their bickering, softly closing the door behind her.


	2. Chapter 2

The room beyond was an odd combination of sewing room and bedroom. Half made hand puppet toys placed on stands, large pieces of fabric, and even a tangle of yarn were littered around. In the center was a small table with a chair, and what looked like a fresh baked pie sitting on top. Beside the pie was a plate with a single slice of pie sitting on it, and Stacy could see where it had been cut out of the bigger part.

Scout was also on the table, looking quite sulky about it. Daisy "stood" across from the chair, whispering something at the small Puppet. Stacy cleared her throat and both them looked up at her. "Ah, there you are Sugar. Go on and sit down, I made you some pie."

Stacy sat, feeling stiff and tense, clenching her right fist before before taking off her left hand glove. She picked the fork up and examined the pie carefully. The pie filling wasn't red, at least, so she could give the Puppet that. Daisy kept staring, so she took a small bite of the treat.

' _Huh. Apple._ ' The girl noted as sh chewed, ignoring the far too happy look on Daisy's face. "It's good." She muttered, not looking at the puppet, who clapped her hands together.

"Excellent!" She grinned. "Now, about that favor..."

' _Oh boy, here we go._ ' Stacy knew what happened when adults wanted "favors", that it was usually chores, or helping younger brothers with something. And, living puppet or not, Daisy was an adult, which meant a chore.

"Yeah?" She asked, wanting to just get it over with, and hoping it would be an easy one. If it was too difficult, she felt that at least she didn't have to do it. After all, Lydia had told her she didn't have to help the Puppets.

"Well, I'm sure you've noticed by now that some little Hand Puppets," she sent the small Puppet a motherly glare, "like to sneak out of their room during the day."

"You want me to play babysitter." Stacy deduced. Mary had actually sad the same line once about Danny. Daisy blinked in surprise, having had a whole speech prepared.

"Er, well, yes." She stumbled. "If you wouldn't mind, that is. Since Scout somehow keeps finding her way to where ever you are, I figured it would just be easier if you kept an eye on her from the beginning."

"Yeah. I can do that." A glance down showed Scout staring up at the girl, a wide, undisguised grin on her face. "Shouldn't be too much harder than watching Danny. At least Scout will be able to hear if I call her."

"Oh, thank you so much Sugar!" She seemed genuinely happy, which startled the girl. Maybe Scout getting out was a bigger problem than she'd thought?

"Uh, no problem?" She didn't know what to say, and leaned away just a little. She glanced at the door, wondering if she should try and make an escape. Daisy noticed and, thankfully, misinterpreted what she wanted.

"Oh, you must be thirsty! Let me get you some iced tea!" Daisy turned to get some, but Stacy quickly stopped her.

"Uh, no thanks? I don't need it!" She hated tea, iced or not. "Besides, I should probably be getting back to work. Uuuuuh, I thought I heard, uh, yelling, earlier." She pulled her glove back on and stood up.

"Oh that was just Riley, dear. She gets like that sometimes." Daisy looked only a little annoyed, more like a mother mentioning how her child won't put laundry away, rather than talking about a Puppet verbally abusing two grown men. It was a little off putting to the girl

"Great..." Stacy was so glad she wasn't working directly for the Puppets. Or rather, only working directly for Daisy, as of right now. She always liked her better than the other two, anyways, even with her explosive temper. Heck, she even found the anger funny sometimes. Still, she gathered Scout in her arms, then paused.

"What's wrong Honey?" Daisy asked from where she was putting plastic wrap over the pie. She placed it in a small picnic basket. 

"Uh, we came here through the vents..." Stacy admitted sheepishly. "I don't know how to get back..." She refused to look at the Puppet.

"Oh that's no problem at all! I'll show you the way. You'll need to know anyways, since you'll be back here again..."

Daisy wheeled her way down the hall, showing Stacy to the... elevators? Somehow, and Stacy was unsure of exactly how, they had climbed up to a second floor of the studio, where all the Puppets apparently lived. Although according to Daisy, there was also a few storage rooms and offices, as well as Riley's apparently very real lab.

"But it's perfectly safe." Daisy assured the girl as they rode back down to the studio. "At least, she said it is..."

Somehow, that did not make Stacy feel better.

But they quickly reached the bottom, and as they stepped out of the open doors Lydia approached, staring at a clipboard. She glanced briefly at them as she passed by.

"Oh good. You found her." She said, reading through whatever was on the board. "I knew you would. You always seem to."

"Sure did Sugar. Sorry it took so long, we had some pie and Stacy agreed to do something for me." Daisy told the woman, who motioned for the two to follow them.

"What sort of..." Lydia trailed off as she looked back at the girl, quickly spotting Scout, who waved at her with a cheerful grin. Lydia gave a small wave back, giving Daisy a Look. "Uh, I see."

"I'm glad." Daisy replied, wheeling up alongside the coordinator. She peered at the clipboard, having to raise her stand a little to see. "Now, where are we on the schedule?"

"Well..."

While the two adults talked, Stacy watched them from behind, still holding Scout. ' _I guess Daisy isn't really that bad. She certainly seems nicer than Riley, anyways._ ' She scoffed quietly, and Scout looked up at her.

"Hey." The Puppet whispered. "Think you can sneak me home in that big bag of yours?"

"What? No! I'm not going to do that!" Stacy whispered back. "I'll get in deep shiitake if I do!"

"Awww, c'mon! Mom said you had to watch me!" She insisted, and Stacy glared a little.

"Yeah, you and the others." Okay, technically she hadn't said to watch the others, but it felt implied. And hey, if it meant she didn't have to sweep again, she was sure she could watch a few kids for a shift or two.

"Then bring them too!" Scout grinned, and Stacy suppressed a groan. 

"Okay fine! But not tonight! It'll have to be later, when my parents aren't home." 

Scout beamed, and Stacy considered the matter done with. She could easily ask Mary later about when they'd be gone, under the pretense of a movie night with Danny. That movie night would just also include five Hand Puppets, but nobody else needed to know that. And, with any luck, Daisy would be glad to have a night off from them too.

At least, Stacy hoped she would.

\---------

"So that's where the girl went, then? And you were going to tell us about this.... when?" Mortimer asked, anger just barely disguised. The work day was now over with, and even Lydia had long since gone home. Daisy had then put her children to bed, leaving the wooden Puppets alone in their kitchen. 

"Right now Sugar." Daisy shot back from where she was pulling a ham out of the oven. She put it on the stove and turned, hands on her hips. "I could hardly abandon the girl up here to come update you, now could I?" 

"Hmmph." He ignored the logic as he refocused on his paperwork while Riley muttered beside him.

"Why do you get to talk to her? I don't get to talk to her." She muttered, arms crossed as she glared at some unseen thing. Nick paused from his own preparations of dinner to sigh heavily.

"You don't get to talk to her because you terrify children, Riley." He told her, smirking at the offended gasp she gave in response. She didn't really, but her loudness and erratic ways weren't as amusing to the older kids as they were to the younger ones. And so, despite liking working with the older crowd more, she struggled to relate to them.

"I do _not_!" She hissed. She looked like she might slap him before Mortimer forced himself between them.

"And that's quite enough of that!" He ordered. "Stop it now, or I'll beat you both with my hat!"

"That was truly terrible." Daisy quipped as she sliced the ham. "But no, Riley, I get to talk to Stacy, because I'm not a screeching harpy."

" _I do not screech!_ " Riley screeched. Nick lost it, bending over and wheezing with laughter. Mortimer gave both him and Daisy a disapproving glare.

"I will end you!" Riley hissed out, and if looks could kill, the artist would be splinters. But Mortimer grabbed her by the arms and forced her to her spot at the table.

"Enough with the insults you two. Honestly, I expected better of all of you." He scolded as Nick finally got a hold of himself and helped Daisy place the food on the table. They sat down, and Daisy started serving up the food. Once that was done, the country belle took a deep breath and looked the scientist in the eye.

"I am sorry, Honey." And she really did look sorry, enough that Riley softened her glare a little. "But we need to go slow with this one. Something terrible has given her an awful fright from what I've heard."

"Hmm, Mary did mention that something had happened during the last Holiday Season." Nick mentioned, not looking up from his plate, where he'd sculpted his potatoes into an image of himself. "Some sort of wild animal attack, from what I could make out."

Riley sighed. "I wish you two would stop your eavesdropping! Honestly, it's really rather appalling." She stabbed into her ham, not even bothering to pretend to eat. Not that she saw much point in such an act anyways. She was long past the point of being fascinated with her own body's functions, and even those of humans.

"However you learned it, please do not repeat it." The magician insisted, rubbing his temples. "Spreading rumors is not something I wish to deal with." He also was ignoring his food, paperwork spread out in front of him instead. There was too much to be done for him to take a break, even if he did make the effort to be present. "But enough of all of that. Daisy, obviously, must have a plan to enact."

"Oh you bet I do, Sugar." She grinned. "I've already managed to convince Stacy to watch Scout whenever she breaks out. They already seem pretty attached to each other, even though they've only met once before." She grinned just a little wider. "And, Scout herself has already agreed to help with the next part of my plan."

"Which is?" Nick asked, impatient. He really hated when she decided to be coy. It annoyed him and made him wish she'd just get to the point.

"You'll see. It'll work out better if you aren't expecting it." She smirked, before delicately taking a bite of mashed potatoes. "And great work on the taters, Nicky. You did even better than last time."

Nick grumbled, but couldn't keep the smile off his face at the compliment. If there was one way to get on his good side, it was by ego stroking. It was true both on and off the show.

Daisy only hoped Stacy knew that little tidbit. It would make _Phase Two_ go so much smoother if she did.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And here's the end of Episode Two: The Return! Next episode will be out... later. Whenever I figure out what it's gonna be. XD
> 
> I mean, I do kinda have a plan, it's just a really loose one. Anyways, I hope you enjoy this chapter, and Outside 12 will be up on schedule.


End file.
